A considerable number of baseball games of the type which are played on a table top or in a self-supporting unit have been devised to provide the players with a device which resembles the real game of baseball as closely as possible within a limited area. These prior games are of various configurations and constructions and use mechanisms to enable the game to resemble and simulate actual baseball as closely as possible.
Some of these games are provided with a movable member which simulates a bat and is moved by one of the players to hit a ball into a specific area of the playing field, which depending on the area in which the ball comes to rest will indicate whether a "hit" or "out" or other type of baseball play has occurred. Other prior baseball games use various types of bumpers and obstructions which are contacted by the batted ball affecting the final destination of the ball. Still other types of simulated games have used an inclined ramp which the ball can roll along and come to rest in other portions of the playing field to simulate a particular type of baseball play. Still other of these games provide a means in which another player will roll a ball toward the batter to simulate a pitch or will drop the ball onto the playing field which will roll along an inclined surface toward a home plate area and the batter's position.
Examples of these types of games can be found in one or more of the following patents:
______________________________________ 853,463 1,783,338 2,775,457 1,092,979 1,850,778 3,050,308 1,299,304 2,308,816 3,111,318 1,384,095 2,344,193 3,534,962 1,640,878 2,412,714 3,854,720 1,703,628 2,749,122 3,913,915 D-112,644 ______________________________________
Although these various prior baseball games do simulate in many respects a baseball game, they lack one main feature, that is, the speed and versatility of a pitched ball being projected toward another player equipped with a simulated bat for striking the same. In all of these prior constructions, the ball is slowly rolled or directed toward the batter with less simulated speed than occurs in a real baseball game. Therefore, in these prior baseball games, the batter will usually be able to hit the pitched ball without difficulty eliminating a major portion of a baseball game which involves the skill of the batter and pitcher in head-to-head confrontation.
Therefore, the need has existed for a baseball game which more closely resembles actual baseball in which one of the players delivers a ball towards home plate and a movable bat operated by another player at various speeds and directions to more closely simulate an actual pitch delivered by a baseball pitcher. There is no such baseball game of which I am aware which provides this feature in addition to the other unique features described in greater detail below.